17 April 1970: Why I'm off the air

Ground staff at work on the artificial pitch at the Oval surrounded by barbed wire which has been erected temporarily to stop anti-apartheid demonstrators wrecking the wicket during the tour by the South African cricket team. Photograph: Leonard Burt/Getty Images

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John Arlott broadcast cricket for the BBC from 1946 until 1980, but his passionate anti-apartheid views led to the decision described in the article above in 1970.The controversy surrounding the South African tour led to its cancellation by the Cricket Council on 22 May 1970.